Top 10 Thai Food

I spent most of the day at the Book Fair at Queen Sirikit Convention Hall. The big fairs are usually during the school holidays in April and October. I used to comment that Thai people don’t like reading much (apart from cartoon books), but every year more and more people go to these book fairs. Today was packed and I could hardly move. I bought quite a few books that I will share with you later, but first I want to show you this book which is all about the Top 10 of Thai Food! Obviously one of my favourite subjects. As you can see, the book is in Thai. I think I already have the best of the cookery books in English. Most of them are quite limited and repeat themselves a lot. So, that is why today I was browsing through the cook books written by Thai people. A better selection for sure. I bought half a dozen cook books which will help me a lot identifying the ingredients of street food that I have already photographed. I could blog about Thai food every day, I am just lacking the information sometimes.
Anyway, according to this book, the following is the Top 10 list of Thai Food:
1. Hot and sour soup with shrimp
2. Green curry with chicken
3. Fried Noodles
4. Pork fried in basil
5. Red curry with roast duck
6. Coconut soup with chicken
7. Thai style salad with beef
8. Satay pork
9. Fried chicken with cashew
10. Panang curry

http://www.enjoythaifood.com/top10thaifood.php

What Comprises a Thai Meal

What Comprises a Thai Meal


Titbits
These can be hors d'oeuvres, accompaniments, side dishes, and/or snacks. They include spring rolls, satay, puffed rice cakes with herbed topping. They represent the playful and creative nature of the Thais.



Salads
A harmony of tastes and herbal flavours are essential. Major tastes are sour, sweet and salty. Spiciness comes in different degrees according to meat textures and occasions.




General Fare
A sweet and sour dish, a fluffy omelette, and a stir-fried dish help make a meal more complete.


Dips
Dips entail some complexity. They can be the major dish of a meal with accompaniments of vegetables and some meats. When dips are made thinly, they can be used as salad designs. A particular and simple dip is made from chillies, garlic, dried shrimps, lime juice, fish sauce, sugar and shrimp paste.


Soups
A good meal for an average person may consist simply of a soup and rice. Traditional Thai soups are unique because they embody more flavours and textures than can be found in other types of food.



Curries
Most non-Thai curries consist of powdered or ground dried spices, whereas the major ingredients of Thai curry are fresh herbs. A simple Thai curry paste consists of dried chillies, shallots and shrimp paste. More complex curries include garlic, galanga, coriander roots, lemon grass, kaffir lime peel and peppercorns.



Single Dishes
Complete meals in themselves , they include rice and noodle dishes such as Khao Phat and Phat Thai.



Desserts
No good meal is complete without a Thai dessert. Uniformly sweet, they are particularly welcome after a strongly spiced and herbed meal.

http://www.sawadee.com/thailand/food/

Eating & Ordering Thai Food

Eating & Ordering Thai Food

Thai food is eaten with a fork and spoon. Even single dish meals such as fried rice with pork, or steamed rice topped with roasted duck, are served in bite-sized slices or chunks obviating the need for a knife. The spoon is used to convey food to the mouth.

Ideally, eating Thai food is a communal affair involving two or more people, principally because the greater the number of diners the greater the number of dishes ordered. Generally speaking, two diners order three dishes in addition to their own individual plates of steamed rice, three diners four dishes, and so on. Diners choose whatever they require from shared dishes and generally add it to their own rice. Soups are enjoyed concurrently with rice. Soups are enjoyed concurrently with other dishes, not independently. Spicy dishes, not independently. Spicy dishes are "balanced" by bland dishes to avoid discomfort.

The ideal Thai meal is a harmonious blend of the spicy, the subtle, the sweet and sour, and is meant to be equally satisfying to eye, nose and palate. A typical meal might include a clear soup (perhaps bitter melons stuffed with minced pork), a steamed dish (mussels in curry sauce), a fried dish (fish with ginger), a hot salad (beef slices on a bed of lettuce, onions, chillies, mint and lemon juice) and a variety of sauces into which food is dipped. This would be followed by sweet desserts and/or fresh fruits such as mangoes, durian, jackfruit, papaya, grapes or melon.

http://www.sawadee.com/thailand/food/

Thai food menu

Introduction

Thai food is internationally famous. Whether chilli-hot or comparatively blands, harmony is the guiding principle behind each dish. Thai cuisine is essentially a marriage of centuries-old Eastern and Western influences harmoniously combined into something uniquely Thai. The characteristics of Thai food depend on who cooks it, for whom it is cooked, for what occasion, and where it is cooked to suit all palates. Originally, Thai cooking reflected the characteristics of a waterborne lifestyle. Aquatic animals, plants and herbs were major ingredients. Large chunks of meat were eschewed. Subsequent influences introduced the use of sizeable chunks to Thai cooking.
With their Buddhist background, Thais shunned the use of large animals in big chunks. Big cuts of meat were shredded and laced with herbs and spices. Traditional Thai cooking methods were stewing and baking, or grilling. Chinese influences saw the introduction of frying, stir frying and deep-frying. Culinary influences from the 17th century onwards included Portuguese, Dutch, French and Japanese. Chillies were introduced to Thai cooking during the late 1600s by Portuguese missionaries who had acquired a taste for them while serving in South America.



Thais were very adapt at 'Siamese-ising' foreign cooking methods, and substituting ingredients. The ghee used in Indian cooking was replaced by coconut oil, and coconut milk substituted for other daily products. Overpowering pure spices were toned down and enhanced by fresh herbs such as lemon grass and galanga. Eventually, fewer and less spices were used in Thai curries, while the use of fresh herbs increased. It is generally acknowledged that Thai curries burn intensely, but briefly, whereas other curries, with strong spices, burn for longer periods. Instead of serving dishes in courses, a Thai meal is served all at once, permitting dinners to enjoy complementary combinations of different tastes.
A proper Thai meal should consist of a soup, a curry dish with condiments, a dip with accompanying fish and vegetables. A spiced salad may replace the curry dish. The soup can also be spicy, but the curry should be replaced by non spiced items. There must be a harmony of tastes and textures within individual dishes and the entire meal.

http://www.sawadee.com/thailand/food/

Thai food menu 004

Fried Chicken Thai Style

This is a different kind of fried chicken with spices that is made at our local Muslim stall. This is not as crispy as the other Muslim vendor which I prefer. (I mean his chicken is crispy, not the vendor is cripsy.) This was 30 baht.

http://www.enjoythaifood.com/

Thai food menu 003

Thai Papaya Salad (som tam tai)

"Som tam tai" is very popular with many foreign tourists. There are quite a few different versions such as the fruit salad version. This one is som tam tai and uses shredded green papaya. Everything is pounded togehter with a mortar and pestle. The ingredients green beans, cherry tomatoes, include garlic, red chili, palm sugar, fish sauce, lemon juice and tamarind paste. They probably also add a touch of MSG if you are not looking. This version also has dried shrimp and dry roasted peanuts which are added after the pounding. The vendor will probably inquire if you want it spicy. An easy way to explain is to say how many chillies you want. So, for two, you would say "prik song met". This is only 20-30 baht and very delicious. You can try to eat.

http://www.enjoythaifood.com/

Thai food menu 002

Grilled chicken with sticky rice
The grilled chicken with sticky rice is an excellent accompaniments to many som tam dishes. There are some vendors who only sell the grilled chicken without the som tam. But the som tam vendor often has grilled chicken. Just point to the piece of chicken you want. If you ask for sticky rice too, he will ask how many bags. I usually just get one. The rice about 5-10 baht and the chicken about 20-30 baht.

http://www.enjoythaifood.com/